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10 Flatnners

The document outlines Thomas Friedman's 10 flatteners that contributed to globalization. It discusses the collapse of the Berlin Wall and rise of PCs and the Internet, Netscape making the web accessible to everyone, workflow software allowing machines to communicate without humans, outsourcing and offshoring allowing more efficient global operations, open source collaboration online, efficient supply chains like Walmart's, insourcing work to other companies, information access through search engines, and wireless technologies, voice over internet, and file sharing allowing digital content to be accessed anywhere.

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shariq ahmed
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37 views

10 Flatnners

The document outlines Thomas Friedman's 10 flatteners that contributed to globalization. It discusses the collapse of the Berlin Wall and rise of PCs and the Internet, Netscape making the web accessible to everyone, workflow software allowing machines to communicate without humans, outsourcing and offshoring allowing more efficient global operations, open source collaboration online, efficient supply chains like Walmart's, insourcing work to other companies, information access through search engines, and wireless technologies, voice over internet, and file sharing allowing digital content to be accessed anywhere.

Uploaded by

shariq ahmed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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10 latnners

 #1: Collapse of the Berlin Wall – 11/9/89: Friedman called the flattener, “When the walls
came down, and the windows came up.” The event not only symbolized the end of the cold War,
it allowed people from other side of the wall to join the economic mainstream. “11/9/89” is a
discussion about the Berlin Wall coming down, the “fall” of communism, and the impact that
Windows powered PCs (personal computers) had on the ability of individuals to create their own
content and connect to one another. At this point, the basic platform for the revolution to follow
was created: IBM PC, Windows, a standardized graphical interface for word processing, dial up
modems, a standardized tool for communication, and a global phone network.

 #2: Netscape – 8/9/95: Netscape went public at the price of $28. Netscape and the Web
broadened the audience for the Internet from its roots as a communications medium used
primarily by “early adopters and geeks” to something that made the Internet accessible to
everyone from five-year-olds to ninety-five-year olds. The digitization that took place meant that
everyday occurrences such as words, files, films, music and pictures could be accessed and
manipulated on a computer screen by all people across the world.

 #3: Workflow software: Friedman’s catch-all for the standards and technologies that
allowed work to flow. The ability of machines to talk to other machines with no humans involved,
as stated by Friedman. Friedman believes these first three forces have become a “crude
foundation of a whole new global platform for collaboration”. There was an emergence of
software protocols (SMTP – simple mail transfer protocol; HTML – the language that enabled
anyone to design and publish documents that could be transmitted to and read on any computer
anywhere) Standards on Standards. This is what Friedman called the “Genesis moment of the
flat world.” The net result “is that people can work with other people on more stuff than ever
before.” This created a global platform for multiple forms of collaboration. The next six flatteners
sprung from this platform.

 #4: Outsourcing: Friedman argues that outsourcing has allowed companies to split
service and manufacturing activities into components which can be subcontracted and
performed in the most efficient, cost-effective way. This process became easier with the mass
distribution of fiber optic cables during the introduction of the World Wide Web.

 #5: Offshoring: The internal relocation of a company’s manufacturing or other processes


to a foreign land to take advantage of less costly operations there. China’s entrance in the WTO
(World Trade Organization) allowed for greater competition in the playing field. Now countries
such as Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil must compete against China and each other to have
businesses offshore to them.

 #6: Open Source: Communities uploading and collaborating on online projects. Examples
include open source software, blogs, and Wikipedia. Friedman considers the phenomenon “the
most disruptive force of all”.

 #7: Supply-chaining: Friedman compares the modern retail supply chain to a river, and
points to Wal-Mart as the best example of a company using technology to streamline item sales,
distribution, and shippin
 #8: Insourcing: Friedman uses UPS as a prime example for insourcing, in which the
company’s employees perform services – beyond shipping – for another company. For example,
UPS repairs Toshiba computers on behalf of Toshiba. The work is done at the UPS hub, by UPS
employees.

 #9: In-forming: Google and other search engines are the prime example. “Never before
in the history of the planet have so many people – on their own – had the ability to find so much
information about so many things and about so many other people,” writes Friedman. The
growth of search engines is tremendous; for example take Google, in which Friedman states that
it is “now processing roughly one billion searches per day, up from 150 million just three years
ago”.

 #10: “The Steroids”: Wireless, Voice over Internet, and file sharing. Personal digital
devices like mobile phones, iPods, personal digital assistants, instant messaging, and voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP). Digital, Mobile, Personal and Virtual – all analog content and processes
(from entertainment to photography to word processing) can be digitized and therefore shaped,
manipulated and transmitted; virtual – these processes can be done at high speed with total
ease; mobile – can be done anywhere, anytime by anyone; and personal – can be done by you.

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